#German Chancellor #AngelaMerkel declares Europe top priority for new government

BERLIN (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will tell Germans that European co-operation is "the decisive question of the coming years" in a New Year's Eve broadcast Sunday (Dec 31), as her conservatives eye tricky coalition talks. Merkel will say that "27 states in Europe must be persuaded more strongly than ever to hold together as a community," according to a script of the annual televised address released by her office. Britain is on course to leave the bloc in March 2019 after last year's referendum vote for Brexit - leaving the European Union with 27 members. As for Germany, its "future is bound indivisibly with the future of Europe," the chancellor will declare, recalling that Berlin hopes to work with France's pro-European President Emmanuel Macron to future-proof the EU. "The question will be whether we Europeans can represent our values inwardly and outwardly,...